Method and apparatus for receiving nutritional information via a network

ABSTRACT

A method and apparatus for receiving nutritional information are disclosed. For example, the method receives a profile of a user, receives over the communications network, grocery information on one or more grocery items at one or more locations of the user, receives over the communications network, ingestion information on ingestion by the user of at least one grocery item from the one or more grocery items, generates nutritional information, wherein the nutritional information is determined by performing an analysis based on the profile of the user, the grocery information, and the ingestion information, and provides over the communications network, the nutritional information, to an endpoint device of the user.

This application is a continuation of U.S. patent application Ser. No.14/970,495, filed Dec. 15, 2015, now U.S. Pat. No. 11,128,709, which isincorporated herein by reference in its entirety.

The present disclosure relates to a method and apparatus for receivingnutritional information via a communications network, e.g., acommunications network of a network service provider.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The teaching of the present disclosure can be readily understood byconsidering the following detailed description in conjunction with theaccompanying drawings, in which:

FIG. 1 illustrates an example network related to the present disclosure;

FIG. 2 illustrates a flowchart of an example method for receivingnutritional information;

FIG. 3 illustrates a flowchart of an example method for providingnutritional information; and

FIG. 4 depicts a high-level block diagram of a computer suitable for usein performing the functions described herein.

To facilitate understanding, identical reference numerals have beenused, where possible, to designate identical elements that are common tothe figures.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

The present disclosure relates to a method and apparatus for receivingnutritional information via a communications network, e.g., acommunications network of a communications network service provider(broadly a network service provider). The teachings of the presentdisclosure can be applied via any type of wired or wirelesscommunications network.

A user may wish to improve the nutritional value of food and drink itemsthat are consumed. For example, the user may be health conscious and maywish to maintain or improve his/her health. One approach may involvekeeping track of food and drink consumption, tabulating the date, andthen making an assessment as to whether or not the consumption wasconsistent with good nutrition. However, this manual approach requiresthat the user actively records such information every time an instanceof food item or drink is consumed. The approach is labor intensive andit is likely that the user may abandon this effort once it becomes tooburdensome. In addition, when a desired goal is not reached, the causefor the failure may not be known. For example, the user may not have thenecessary knowledge of what he/she should eat to maximize his/herhealth. The user may then benefit from receiving nutritional informationthat is based on a profile of the user, and an automated recording ofingestions of food and/or drink items by the user.

In one embodiment, the present disclosure describes a method forreceiving nutritional information that is based on the profile of theuser, and an automated recording of ingestions of food and drink itemsby the user. For example, a user may receive nutritional informationfrom a server of a network service provider via a user endpoint device,e.g., a smart phone.

In order to clearly illustrate the teachings of the current disclosure,the following terminologies will first be described:

-   -   Internet of Things; and    -   Sensor.

Internet of Things (IoT) refers to a network of objects, e.g., deviceshaving the necessary electronics, software, and network connectivity tocollect and exchange data. For example, the Internet of Things devicesmay have Internet Protocol addresses for Internet connectivity. Anobject that is part of the IoT network may be referred to as an IoTobject or IoT device. An IoT device has the ability to send and/orreceive data without requiring a human-to-human or a human-to-computerinteraction.

A sensor refers to a device that detects an event or a change andprovides an output that indicates the event or the change that isdetected. Said another way, the sensor may also refer to a device thatis tasked with measuring a physical quantity. The sensor may be an IoTdevice.

In one embodiment of the present disclosure, the present method providesa network-based nutritional tracking service provided by a networkservice provider. For an illustrative example, a user A may wish toreceive nutritional information (e.g., comparative nutritionalinformation of User A as compared to the general population, comparativenutritional intake of User A as compared to a “model” individual ofcomparable age and gender, and so on) from a network service providerthat is based on the profile of user A, and a record of food and/ordrink items ingested by the user A. For example, the network serviceprovider may obtain the profile of the user A which may include the age,gender, weight, and various biometric information (e.g., blood pressure,glucose level, body temperature, etc.) of user A. Such profile can beprovided directly by the user A or is provided by a source authorized byuser A, e.g., a social networking site hosting such a profile for userA.

However, since user A may ingest food and drink items throughout the dayfrom various locations, the network service provider may need todetermine a list of grocery items (e.g., broadly grocery informationcomprising a list of available food and/or drink items) in one or morelocations at which user A may have consumed these grocery items. In oneexample, the service provider may need to obtain a list of food anddrink items in a household of user A. In another example, the serviceprovider may need to obtain a list of food and drink items in otherlocations, e.g., a restaurant, a work environment, an educationalinstitution and so on, at which the user A may have ingested these foodand drink items. Having the list of available food and/or drink itemswill assist in accurately determining what items from the list ofavailable food and/or drink items that user A may have actually ingestedthroughout the day. Said another way, in one example the accuraterecordation of the actual food and/or drink items consumed by user Awill need to be determined. Knowing what food and/or drink items areavailable at any particular location as a starting point may serve as aconfirmation as to the actual food and/or drink items that the systemmay have detected having been ingested user A. For example, if the listof grocery items includes milk, orange juice, and apple juice, and theuser A is detected as having ingested milk in the morning, then theconfidence level for such detection will be deemed to be high.Alternatively, if the user A is detected as having ingested coffee inthe morning or an alcoholic beverage at night, then the confidence levelfor such detection will be deemed to be low if such detected items werenot initially detected as part of the grocery items. It should be notedthat having a low confidence level does not, in and of itself, indicatesthat the detected ingestion of the particular item by user A isincorrect (e.g., the coffee is a formulated item that is assembled froma plurality of different ingredients, the coffee or alcoholic beveragecould have been brought by a guest visiting user A, and so on).

In one embodiment, the food and/or drink items actually ingested by userA is determined and recorded. The manner in which food and/or drinkitems being detected as ingested by user A will be further describedbelow. The information on the ingestion of these food and drink itemsmay be recorded over a period of time by the network service provider.The recorded information may be stored in a server or uploaded to acloud storage. The network service provider may then perform an analysisthat is based on the ingestion information and the profile of user A.The service provider may then provide the nutritional information touser A based on the result of the analysis. For example, the serviceprovider may gather the various types of information described above foruser A, compare user A's information to a population based nutritionalinformation, and provide nutritional information for user A based on theprofile of user A as compared to the general population. For instance,when compared with people who are of a same age, gender and weight ofthe user A, the analysis may indicate that User A needs to consume moreor less of certain food and/or drink items, e.g., an additional glass ofmilk during breakfast time.

Alternatively, the comparison can be made against a “model individual”(or broadly a nutritional model) of a same age, gender and weight of theuser A, that is selected by user A. In other words, nutritional scienceis an evolving field where there are many different opinions as to whatmay constitute a proper or healthy diet. Said another way, there may beseveral different food-based dietary guidelines that are promoted bydifferent organizations. Thus, the network service provider will accorduser A an option to select one of those food-based dietary guidelinesthat user A prefers to follow. Thus, user A may dynamically select onenutritional model from a plurality of different nutritional models thatis made available by the network service provider.

FIG. 1 illustrates an example network 100 related to the presentdisclosure. In one illustrative embodiment, the network 100 comprises ahousehold 111, an access network 101, a core network 103, and variousthird party establishments 141-142.

For example, the household 111 may comprise a user 110 and otherindividuals 109. The user 110 may access various network services, e.g.,telephony services, data services, Internet access services, multi-mediadelivery services and the like, via a user endpoint (UE) device 117,e.g., a cell phone, a smart phone or a computing tablet. The household111 may also comprise a plurality of IoT devices 122-126. The thirdparty establishments 141-142 may also comprise a plurality of IoTdevices 151-152 and servers 161-162, respectively. The IoT devices122-126 and 151-152 may access services, e.g., Internet services, fromthe core network 103 via the access network 101.

In one embodiment, the access network 101 may comprise aWireless-Fidelity (Wi-Fi) network, a cellular network (e.g., 2G, 3G, andthe like), a long term evolution (LTE) network, and the like. The corenetwork 103 may comprise any type of communications network, such as forexample, a traditional circuit switched network (e.g., a public switchedtelephone network (PSTN)) or a packet network such as an InternetProtocol (IP) network (e.g., an IP Multimedia Subsystem (IMS) network),an asynchronous transfer mode (ATM) network, or a wireless network. Itshould be noted that an IP network is broadly defined as a network thatuses Internet Protocol to exchange data packets.

In one embodiment, the UE 117 may be deployed as a hardware deviceembodied as a dedicated device (e.g., the dedicated computer 400 asillustrated in FIG. 4). In one embodiment, the UE 117 is configured toperform the methods and functions described herein (e.g., the method 200discussed below). For example, the UE 117 of the present disclosure isfor obtaining a profile of the user to be forwarded to a network serviceprovider, determining a list of grocery items (e.g., a listing ofavailable food and/or drink items) in one or more locations at which theuser may consume such grocery items, obtaining ingestion information onthe actual ingestion of particular food and/or drink items by the user(e.g., particular food and/or drink items from the list of groceryitems), storing the gathered information (e.g., a listing of groceryitems, particular food and/or drink items from the list of grocery itemsthat are detected to have been ingested, the locations where theseparticular food and/or drink items are ingested and the like), providingthe information that is gathered to a network service provider foranalysis, and receiving nutritional information from the network serviceprovider. The nutritional information that is received is based on ananalysis of the ingestion information and the profile provided to thenetwork service provider. In one embodiment, the nutritional informationthat is received is further based on a comparison of the ingestioninformation and the profile of the user to those of a population in ageographical area, or to a nutritional model.

In one embodiment, the core network 103 may include an applicationserver (AS) 104, and a database (DB) 105. For example, the AS 104 may bedeployed as a hardware device embodied as a dedicated database server(e.g., the dedicated computer 400 as illustrated in FIG. 4). In oneembodiment, the AS 104 is configured to perform the methods andfunctions described herein (e.g., the method 300 discussed below). Forexample, the network service provider provides a subscribed service to auser where the user is able to receive nutritional information. Forexample, the user may receive nutritional information based on ananalysis of the user's profile and ingestion information e.g., a recordof ingestion of food and/or drink items. In turn, the user may thenutilize the nutritional information received from the network serviceprovider to make better decisions as to what food and/or drink items toingest. In other words, a user may want to improve his/her health andsubscribe to a service to receive nutritional information for improvingthe nutritional value of food/drink items that the user may procure.

In one embodiment, the database 105 is used for storing various data,e.g., profiles of users, locations of sensors, capabilities of sensors,data gathered via sensors, etc. For example, the profile of a user mayinclude one or more of: an identity of the user, information foridentifying the user (a voiceprint of the user, a fingerprint scan ofthe user, a retina scan of the user, etc.), one or more biometricmeasurements of the user (e.g., blood pressure, glucose level,temperature readings, etc.), an age of the user, a gender of the user, aweight of the user, a height of the user, a race of the user, and thelike.

In one embodiment, the AS 104 is used for providing nutritionalinformation to a user. For example, the AS 104 of the present disclosureis for obtaining or receiving the profile of the user, determining alist of grocery items in one or more locations at which the user mayconsume certain items from the list of grocery items, obtainingingestion information on particular food and drink items from the listof grocery items ingested by the user, analyzing the ingestioninformation and the profile by comparing to a “population basednutritional information,” or a “model based nutritional information,”and providing the nutritional information to the user. The user may thenutilize the nutritional information that is received from the networkservice provider as a guide for making food and/or drink consumptiondecisions or procurement decisions.

It should be noted that the network 100 may include additional networksand/or elements that are not shown to simplify FIG. 1. For example, theaccess network and the core network of FIG. 1 may include additionalnetwork elements (not shown), such as for example, base stations, borderelements, gateways, firewalls, routers, switches, call control elements,various application servers, and the like.

Although a single database is shown in FIG. 1, the various types of datamay be stored in any number of databases. For instance, variousdatabases, e.g., a separate database for profiles of users, a separatedatabase for data gathered from various sensors, etc., may be used. Inaddition, the various types of data may be stored in a cloud storage. Inother words, the network service provider may implement the service forproviding nutritional information of the present disclosure by utilizingdistributed IoT devices (e.g., distributed sensors), and user profilesthat are established and stored in a cloud storage and/or a centralizedserver.

In one embodiment, the user 110 may consume food and drink items via IoTdevices 125-126. For example, the IoT device 125 may comprise a foodserving dish (e.g., a plate or a bowl) with one or more sensors, e.g., asmart dish, and the IoT device 126 may comprise a drinking container(e.g., a cup, a glass, a mug or a tumbler) e.g., a smart container. Forsimplicity, the IoT devices 125 and 126 may be referred to as a smartdish and a smart container, respectively.

In one embodiment, the smart dish 125 comprises one or more sensors fordetermining one or more of: a type of food item placed on the smart dish(e.g., an optical sensor or a camera for capturing an image of the fooditem on the dish), a quantity of a food item placed on the smart dish(e.g., a weight sensor or a pressure sensor), an identity of a personingesting a food item via the smart dish (e.g., a fingerprint scanner ora code scanner or receiver receiving a signal, e.g., from a wrist bandwore by a user handling or is proximate to the smart dish consistentlyfor a prolong period of time, e.g., 15-30 minutes for eating a meal), aquantity of a food item remaining on the smart dish when the personstops ingesting the food item, etc. In one embodiment, the smartcontainer comprises a sensor for determining one or more of: a type ofdrink item placed into the smart container (e.g., an optical sensor or acamera for capturing an image of the drink item poured into thecontainer, a scanner detecting a signal from the container from whichthe drink is poured from, e.g., a RF tag embedded into a milk or juicecontainer), a quantity of a drink item placed on the smart container(e.g., a weight sensor, a volume sensor, or a pressure sensor), anidentity of a person ingesting a drink item via the smart container(e.g., a fingerprint scanner or a code scanner or receiver receiving asignal, e.g., from a wrist band wore by a user handling or is proximateto the smart container consistently for a prolong period of time, e.g.,2-15 minutes for drinking a beverage), a quantity of a drink itemremaining in the smart container when the person stops ingesting thedrink item, etc.

In one embodiment, the smart dish or smart container may contain anynumber of different food and/or drink items. Thus, the smart dish orsmart container may identify each type of food or drink item that isbeing ingested, the quantity of each type of food or drink item that isbeing ingested, the identity of the person ingesting the food or drinkitem, and the leftover quantities for each type of food or drink item.

In one embodiment, the IoT devices 122-124 may comprise appliances,storage units or spaces for storing grocery items. For example, the IoTdevice 122 may be a smart refrigerator (or freezer, or combinationthereof), the IoT device 123 may comprise a smart pantry, the IoT device124 may comprise a smart disposer 124, e.g., a trash container, etc. TheIoT devices 122-124 may comprise one or more sensors 132-134,respectively, for determining when a grocery item is deposited in orremoved from a respective IoT device 122, 123 or 124, e.g., time stampscan be generated and stored as items are deposited or removed. Inaddition, the sensor 132, 133 or 134 may determine the identity of theperson depositing or removing the grocery item (e.g., the person may bewearing a wrist band having an identifier, e.g., an RF ID tag or atransmitter emitting an ID signal representing the wearer of the wristband).

For example, the smart refrigerator 122 may comprise the sensor 132 fordetermining information for a grocery item that is contained within thesmart refrigerator. The information for the grocery item may compriseone or more of: the type of the grocery item, the time that the groceryitem is deposited into the refrigerator, the time that the grocery itemis removed from the refrigerator, an identity of the person depositingor removing the grocery item, a quantity of the grocery item beingdeposited or removed, a quantity of the grocery item remaining in therefrigerator, a duration of time that the grocery item is stored insidethe smart refrigerator, a duration of time that the grocery item isremoved from the smart refrigerator before it is returned (or it isnever returned if the grocery item is completely consumed or has beendiscarded) and so on.

In another example, the smart pantry 123 may comprise the sensor 133 fordetermining information for a grocery item that is contained within thesmart pantry. Similarly, the information for each grocery item ascaptured by sensor 133 may comprise one or more of: the type of thegrocery item, the time that the grocery item is deposited into the smartpantry, the time that the grocery item is removed from the smart pantry,an identity of the person depositing or removing the grocery item, aquantity of the grocery item being deposited or removed, a quantity ofthe grocery item remaining in the smart pantry, a duration of time thatthe grocery item is stored inside the smart pantry, a duration of timethat the grocery item is removed from the smart pantry before it isreturned (or it is never returned if the grocery item is completelyconsumed or has been discarded) and so on.

In another example, the smart disposer 124 may comprise the sensor 134for determining information for a grocery item that is disposed into thesmart disposer. Similarly, the information for each grocery item ascaptured by sensor 134 may comprise one or more of: the type of thegrocery item, the time that the grocery item is deposited into the smartdisposer, an identity of the person depositing the grocery item, aquantity of the grocery item being deposited, and so on.

It should be noted that each of the sensors 132-134 may in fact comprisea plurality of sensors. The illustration of a single sensor for therefrigerator, pantry and disposer in FIG. 1 is for clarity reason only.In one embodiment, the sensors 132-134 may comprise a scanner or a radioreceiver, e.g., a fingerprint scanner, a retina scanner, a voiceprintscanner, an RF receiver, etc., for identifying the person depositing orremoving the food/drink item. For example, a fingerprint, a retinaprint, a voiceprint and/or an RF code can be captured or assigned foreach user, e.g., capturing a fingerprint of each individual within ahousehold, or assigning a code to a wrist band to be wore by eachindividual within the house hold. In one embodiment, the sensors 132-134may further comprise various types of code scanners, e.g., bar codescanners, QR code scanners, and/or RF tag scanners, to obtaininformation pertaining to various grocery items, e.g., detecting a barcode on a milk container, a juice container, a bag of coffee, a bag ofapples, a can of soup, and the like. In one embodiment, the sensors132-134 may further comprise various types of optical sensors, e.g., aphotodiode, an array of photodiodes, a camera and the like) fordetecting various waves of various wavelengths. For example, an imagecan be captured of the packaging of a grocery item, of an individual, ofa location, and so on. The captured image can be used to identify thetype of a grocery item or an individual, e.g., comparing the capturedimage to a stored image. In one embodiment, the sensors 132-134 mayfurther comprise various types of contact or motion sensors fordetecting various motions or opening/closing of access doors or panels.For example, a contact sensor located on a door may trigger a scanner ora camera to capture an RF tag code or to take a picture when the door isopened or closed, e.g., a refrigerator door, a pantry door, a disposerdoor, and so on. In one embodiment, the sensors 132-134 may furthercomprise various types of communications interface and components, e.g.,receivers, transmitters, transceivers, to communicate with a cellulartower, a local router, a local gateway, and so on. For example, acontact sensor located on a door may trigger a scanner or a camera tocapture an RF tag code or to take a picture when the door is opened orclosed. In turn, the gathered data, e.g., the scanned code and/or thecaptured image can then be transmitted via the transceiver to anapplication server operated by a network service provider.

Thus, any combinations of different types of sensors can be deployed toidentify a grocery item and/or an individual. It should be noted thatthe term “smart” is only used herein as a relative term, e.g., anelectronic device, generally connected to other devices or networks viavarious types of wireless communication protocols, e.g., cellularcommunication, wireless fidelity communication, personal networkcommunication, e.g., Bluetooth, and the like. As such, a smartrefrigerator is “smart” in the sense that data can be captured andcommunicated to other devices for a particular environment. As such, itshould not be interpreted solely that the refrigerator must beoriginally manufactured with the necessary electronic components to makethe refrigerator a smart refrigerator. For example, one alternateembodiment is to simply deploy the various sensors 132, 133, and 134 asa package of sensors that can be deployed within a confined environment,e.g., deploying the sensor 132, into a cabinet or a storage area of ahome. Said another way, although the “smart” pantry or “smart”refrigerator can be manufactured as a consolidated unit, e.g., a cabinetpreinstalled with the various sensors or a refrigerator preinstalledwith the various sensors, the pantry or refrigerator may simply be acloset or a traditional refrigerator located in a kitchen area of ahome, with various sensors that are subsequently added into the closetor refrigerator.

The IoT devices 151-152 of the third party establishments 141-142 may beused for assisting in the gathering of ingestion information for userswho visit the respective establishments, e.g., a restaurant, a cafeteriaand the like. In one example, the servers 161-162 of the third partyestablishments 141-142 are used for storing and/or exchangingnutritional information to and from the application server 104 by theestablishments 141-142, respectively.

In one example, the third party establishment 141 may comprise arestaurant or a school (broadly an educational institution), e.g., achain of fast food restaurants, or a university. The IoT device 151 or152 may comprise a sensor for determining a food or drink item that isconsumed by a user visiting the restaurant or school. In anotherexample, the third party establishment 142 may comprise a store thatsells items (food and/or drink) to be ingested. For instance, the thirdparty establishment 142 may be a grocery store. In one embodiment, theIoT devices 151-152 may also determine the identity of the userconsuming the food or drink item, e.g., via a scanner or an RF reader bydetecting a fingerprint, an RF tag code, a cell phone number and thelike. The identity of the user can then be provided to server 161 or162. Using the detected identity, ingestion information pertaining tothe ingestion of various detected food and drink items can betransmitted by server 161 or 162 to AS 104 on behalf of the user. Inother words, in one example food and drink items consumed outside of auser's home can also be related to AS 104 on behalf of the user. Forexample, a smart dish of a restaurant is utilized for serving aparticular type of food to a patron, e.g., an egg omelet having certainadditional ingredients such as spinach, mushroom and onion. Since therestaurant is the preparer of this particular food item, the restaurantis in the best position to convey what the food item is actuallyformulated from. In turn, the ingredients (broadly ingestioninformation) used to make an entrée can be accurately communicateddirectly to AS 104 or to a mobile endpoint device of the user.

In another embodiment, the identity of the user does not need to beidentified by the server 161 or 162. For example, if user 110 isvisiting the establishment 141 and is served via the IoT device 151(e.g., a smart dish or container), the UE 117 of user 110 may receive aninput from the IoT device 151 indicative of the user 110 being servedvia the IoT device 151. Similarly, if user 110 is visiting theestablishment 142 and is served via the IoT device 152 (e.g., a smartdish or container), the UE 117 of user 110 may receive an input from theIoT device 152 indicative of the user 110 being served via the IoTdevice 152. Thus, the ingestion information associated with the food anddrink items consumed in these third party establishments can be directlycommunicated to the UE 117. In one embodiment, the IoT device maycommunicate with UE 117 via a Wi-Fi network, Bluetooth interface, etc.to provide to the UE 117 information regarding food and/or drink itemsthat are ingested by the user 110.

In one example, the establishments 141-142 may subscribe to a service toreceive nutritional information that has been aggregated over ageographical area from a network service provider. For example, such“aggregated” nutritional information has been anonymized such thatpersonal information has been removed. Said another way, the nutritionalinformation of a group of individuals are aggregated to provideinformation as to what food/drink items are being consumed by a localpopulation, but the personal information relating to the group ofindividuals are removed and not disclosed to any third partyestablishments to maintain the privacy of the group of individuals. Forexample, a restaurant or grocery store may wish to know the nutritionalneeds of a local population served by the restaurant or grocery store.For instance, for a local population during the winter season, fruitjuice consumption may be detected to be increasing due to a largesegment of the local population wishing to increase vitamin C intakeduring the winter months. In turn, the grocery store and restaurant maybenefit by stocking such appropriate products. Thus, the establishments141-142 may receive aggregated nutritional information that isaggregated for a population for a local geographical area, e.g., withina one mile radius, within a two mile radius, within a town, and so on.The application server 104 may then send the nutritional informationthat is aggregated to servers 161-162 of the third party establishments.In one embodiment, the nutritional information may be stored in a cloudstorage and the establishments may be enabled to access the information.For example, the third party establishments may access an aggregatednutritional information from a database 105 of the service provider.

FIG. 2 illustrates a flowchart of an example method 200 for receivingnutritional information in accordance with the present disclosure. Inone embodiment, the method 200 may be implemented in an endpoint deviceof a user, e.g., an UE 117, or the processor 402 as described in FIG. 4.The method 200 starts in step 205 and proceeds to step 210.

In step 210, the processor obtains a profile of a user. In oneembodiment, various information pertaining to the profile of the usercan be automatically obtained via one or more IoT devices, e.g., in-homeIoT devices of the user. In another embodiment, various informationpertaining to the profile of the user can be obtained via a userinterface for receiving the profile from the user. For example, the usermay provide to the UE, via the user interface, the user's age, theuser's gender, the user's race, etc. In another example, the user'sweight may be received from an IoT device that comprises a scale, theuser's blood pressure may be determined via an IoT device that comprisesa sphygmomanometer, the user's glucose level may be determines via anIoT device that comprises a glucometer, the user's heart rate may bedetermined via an IoT device that comprises a heart rate monitor, and soon.

In one embodiment, each IoT device transmits the relevant profileinformation of the user to the endpoint device of the user, and then theendpoint device of the user may aggregate the profile informationcollected from a plurality of the IoT devices into a consolidatedprofile to be transmitted to the service provider. In anotherembodiment, each IoT device may transmit the relevant profileinformation of the user directly to a server of the service provider. Inanother embodiment, the IoT device may transmit the relevant profileinformation of the user to a cloud storage device. Similarly, theendpoint device may upload the consolidated profile to the server of thenetwork service provider or store the consolidated profile at a cloudstorage accessible by the server of the network service provider. Itshould be noted that the collection and transmission of the profileinformation are performed with the authority and full consent of theuser, e.g., the user has consented and has subscribed to a nutritionalinformation service provided by the network service provider.

In step 215, the processor gathers information on one or more availablegrocery items at one or more locations of the user. In one embodiment,the gathering of the information on a grocery item of the one or moregrocery items may be performed via an IoT device in which the groceryitem is stored.

For example, the IoT device in which the grocery item is storedtransmits the information on the grocery item to the user endpointdevice. For instance, if the IoT device is at a residence of the user,the IoT device may be a smart refrigerator and/or freezer, a smartpantry, a smart cabinet, a smart disposer, and the like. The IoT devicein the residence may then transmit to the user endpoint device,information on grocery items that are stored in the IoT device. The userendpoint device may then provide the information to the network serviceprovider.

In one embodiment, the IoT device may also transmit the information onthe available grocery item directly to a server of the service provider.For example, the IoT device may be at a location (e.g., a universitycafeteria) shared with other individuals. The IoT device may thenidentify the user via a biometric scanner or via a communication withthe UE of the user, e.g., via a Bluetooth connection between the IoTdevice and the cell phone of the user. The IoT device may then transmitto the service provider information gathered on available grocery itemsfor the user. For example, if the user is a student of a university andfrequents a particular cafeteria on campus, the available grocery itemsoffered by this particular cafeteria can be provided to the networkservice provider. Again, the fact that the grocery items are availabledoes not mean that the user has actually ingested any of the availablegrocery items.

In one embodiment, the IoT device and the user endpoint device maytransmit the information on the grocery item to a cloud storage device.In other words, the sensors 132-134 and the user endpoint device 117 mayupload the information on the grocery item to a server of the networkservice provider or store the information on the grocery item at a cloudstorage accessible by the server of the network service provider.

In step 220, the processor gathers ingestion information on ingestion offood and/or drink items (e.g., at least one grocery item from thegrocery information of step 215) by the user, wherein the gathering theingestion information on ingestion comprises at least one of: gatheringinformation on ingestion of a food item and gathering information oningestion of a drink item. In one embodiment, the gathering theingestion information on the ingestion of the food item is performed viaa vessel or dish for containing the food item. In one embodiment, thegathering the ingestion information on the ingestion of the drink itemis performed via a vessel or container for containing the drink item. Inone embodiment, the ingestion information that is gathered on ingestionby the user comprises one or more of: when the food item is consumed, atype of the food item (e.g., fruit, vegetable, meat, bread, dessert,etc.) that is consumed, a quantity of the food item that is consumed,and an identity of the user consuming the food item. In one embodiment,the information that is gathered on ingestion by the user comprises oneor more of: when the drink item is consumed, a type of the drink item(e.g., juice, milk, alcoholic beverage, water, etc.) that is consumed, aquantity of the drink item that is consumed, and an identity of the userconsuming the drink item.

In one embodiment, the vessel for containing the food or the drink itemmay comprise an IoT device. For example, the vessel may be a smart dish125 or a smart container 126. The vessel for containing the food item(e.g., smart dish 125) may comprise a sensor for determining one or moreof: when the food item is consumed, a type of the food item (e.g.,fruit, vegetable, meat, bread, dessert, etc.) that is consumed, aquantity of the food item that is consumed, and so on. Similarly, thevessel for containing the drink item (e.g., smart container 126) maycomprise a sensor for determining one or more of: when the drink item isconsumed, a type of the drink item (e.g., water, juice, etc.) that isconsumed, and a quantity of the drink item that is consumed.

In one embodiment, the vessel for containing the food item or drink itemmay further comprise a sensor for determining an identity of the userconsuming the food item or drink item. For example, the sensor fordetermining the identity of the user consuming the food item or thedrink item may comprise a biometric scanner. For example, the smart dishor smart container may include a biometric scanner that comprises afingerprint scanner, a retina scanner, a voiceprint scanner, and thelike.

In one embodiment, the vessel for containing the food item may send arecord of the food item being consumed to the user endpoint device, anapplication server, and/or a cloud storage. In one embodiment, thevessel for containing the drink item may also send a record of the drinkitem being consumed to the user endpoint device, the application server,and/or the cloud storage.

In step 225, the processor provides to a network service provider one ormore of: the profile of the user, the information that is gathered onthe one or more grocery items at the one or more locations of the user,and the ingestion information that is gathered on the ingestion of atleast one item from the one or more grocery items by the user. Forexample, if user 110 removes a can of soup from a smart pantry 123,places the soup on a smart dish 125, eats half of the soup and thendiscards the remaining residual in a disposer 124, the UE 117 receivesfrom the smart pantry 123 (which includes sensor 133) information on thefact that user 110 has removed one can of soup, e.g., including the typeof soup and the size of the can. The UE 117 receives from the smart dish125 that the entire content of the can of soup has been placed onto thedish and the residual amount that is left over and not consumed (e.g.,an amount of content that remains on the dish for an extended period oftime and then followed by a rapid emptying of the dish, e.g., thecontent being dumped into a disposer 124). In addition, if the smartdish 125 has a scanner, the smart dish 125 also identifies that user 110is the person using the smart dish 125 to consume the soup. The UE 117also receives from the disposer 124 that a dumped content consistentwith soup has been disposed by user 110. For example, the dumped contentcan be identified by a captured image or from information received froma smart dish being proximate to the disposer when the dumped content wasreceived (e.g., presumably the dumped content came from the smart dish).The UE 117 is then able to gather such ingestion information todetermine the amount of soup that is consumed and the amount of soupthat is discarded, the time of consumption (e.g., via time stampscollected by each IoT or sensor), the time of disposal (e.g., via timestamps collected by each IoT or sensor), which member of the householdconsumed the soup, and so on. The UE 117 then provides to the AS 104 ofthe network service provider the profile of the user, the informationgathered to determine the amount of soup that is consumed, the amount ofsoup discarded, the time of consumption, the time of disposal, whichmember of the household consumed the soup, and so on.

In one embodiment, the information gathered on the grocery items andingestion information may be provided to the network service providerfrequently, while the profile is updated and/or provided to the networkservice provider with less frequency. The profile of the user may notchange frequently. For instance, the information gathered on groceryitems and ingestion information may be provided to the network serviceprovider, e.g., on a weekly basis, on a daily basis, on an hourly basis,at every occurrence of ingestion, at every occurrence of storage,removal or disposing of a grocery item. The profile of the user may beprovided in accordance with a longer interval, e.g., weekly, monthly,quarterly, etc.

In step 235, the processor receives nutritional information from thenetwork service provider, wherein the nutritional information isdetermined by performing an analysis based on: the profile of the user,the information that is gathered on the one or more grocery items at theone or more locations of the user, and the ingestion information that isgathered on ingestion by the user. In one embodiment, the analysis isfurther based on nutritional information of a population at the one ormore locations of the user. For example, the network service providermay identify a segment of the population at the one or more locations ofthe user with profiles that match the user. For instance, the segment ofthe population may be population with a same gender, similar height,similar weight, similar race, and so on. The network service providermay then analyze the ingestion information for a particular segment ofthe population. For example, the data gathered for the particularsegment of the population may provide a distribution for variousnutritional indicators. For instance, the nutritional indicators may befor ingestions of one or more of: each type of vitamin, each type ofmineral, water, protein, fiber, fat, various types of fat (e.g.,unsaturated, saturated, animal based, plant based), vitamin/mineralsupplements, sugar, types of sugar, and the like. The data may then beanalyzed to establish a baseline for the particular segment of thepopulation for each nutritional indicator. For example, the baseline mayprovide a mean, median, standard deviation, etc., of the variousnutritional indicators for the particular segment of the population. Theuser's ingestion of food and drink items over a predetermined durationof time may then be compared to the baseline for the particular segmentof the population. For example, compared to people matching the profileof the user, the user may be drinking an insufficient amount of water,e.g., 32 ounces below the mean water intake for a segment of thepopulation matching his/her profile. In turn, the UE of the user mayreceive nutritional information from the network service provider thatindicates that the user needs to drink 32 ounces more of water per dayto reach the mean consumption of water, e.g., 50 ounces to be in the topquartile, etc.

In optional step 240, the processor provides to the user one or more of:the information that is gathered on the one or more grocery items at theone or more locations of the user, and the ingestion information that isgathered on ingestion by the user. For example, the UE 117 may providethe gathered information to the user. In one embodiment, the gatheredinformation is presented to the user via a display of the UE. The methodthen either returns to step 210, or to step 299 to end the process.

FIG. 3 illustrates a flowchart of an example method 300 for providingnutritional information in accordance with the present disclosure. Inone embodiment, the method 300 may be implemented in an applicationserver of a network service provider, e.g., AS 104, or the processor 402as described in FIG. 4. The method 300 starts in step 305 and proceedsto step 310.

In step 310, the processor obtains or receives a profile of a user. Inone embodiment, the profile of the user is obtained or received from auser endpoint device of the user. In one embodiment, informationpertaining to the profile of the user can also be obtained or receivedvia one or more IoT devices. In one embodiment, the profile of the usermay be obtained such that some portion of the profile is received fromthe user endpoint device and the remaining portion of the profile isreceived via one or more IoT devices. For example, the UE may providethe age, gender, race, etc., of the user. In another example, IoTdevices may provide the user's weight, blood pressure, glucose level,heart rate, body temperature, etc.

In step 315, the processor obtains or receives information on one ormore grocery items at one or more locations of the user. In oneembodiment, the obtaining or receiving of the information on a groceryitem of the one or more grocery items is performed via a user endpointdevice associated with the user. For example, the information may beobtained or received via the cell phone of the user. In one embodiment,the obtaining of the information on a grocery item of the one or moregrocery items is performed via a gateway server of the user. In oneembodiment, the obtaining or receiving of the information on a groceryitem of the one or more grocery items is performed via an IoT device inwhich a grocery item is stored.

In step 320, the processor obtains or receives ingestion information oningestion of food and/or drink items (e.g., at least one grocery itemfrom the received grocery information of step 315) by the user, whereinthe obtaining or receiving the ingestion information on ingestioncomprises at least one of: obtaining information on ingestion of a fooditem and obtaining information on ingestion of a drink item. In oneembodiment, the obtaining of the ingestion information on ingestion isperformed via a user endpoint device associated with the user. In oneembodiment, the obtaining of the ingestion information on ingestion isperformed via a gateway server of the user. In one embodiment, theobtaining or receiving of the ingestion information on ingestion of foodand/or drink items by the user is performed via an IoT device.

In one embodiment, the IoT device used for obtaining of the informationon ingestion comprises a vessel for containing the food item. In oneembodiment, the vessel for containing the food item comprises a sensorfor determining one or more of: when the food item is consumed, a typeof the food item (e.g., fruit, vegetable, meat, bread, dessert, etc.)that is consumed, and a quantity of the food item that is consumed. Inone embodiment, the vessel for containing the food item furthercomprises a sensor for determining an identity of the user consuming thefood item. In one embodiment, the sensor for determining the identity ofthe user consuming the food item may comprise a biometric scanner. Inone embodiment, the biometric scanner may comprise one or more of: afingerprint scanner, a retina scanner, and a voiceprint scanner.

In one embodiment, the IoT device used for obtaining of the informationon ingestion comprises a vessel for containing the drink item. In oneembodiment, the vessel for containing the drink item comprises a sensorfor determining one or more of: when the drink item is consumed, a typeof the drink item (e.g., water, juice, etc.) that is consumed, and aquantity of the drink item that is consumed. In one embodiment, thevessel for containing the drink item further comprises a sensor fordetermining an identity of the user consuming the drink item. In oneembodiment, the sensor for determining the identity of the userconsuming the drink item may comprise a biometric scanner. In oneembodiment, the biometric scanner may comprise one or more of: afingerprint scanner, a retina scanner, and a voiceprint scanner.

In one example, if the IoT device is at a residence of the user, the IoTdevice may be a smart refrigerator and/or freezer, a smart pantry, asmart dish, a smart container, and the like. The IoT devices in theresidence may transmit to the UE device. The UE device may then transmitto the server provider information gathered via any number of IoTdevices. In another example, the user may implement a centralizedgateway (e.g., a dedicated computer) for gathering information fromvarious IoT devices and for providing combined information to anapplication server of the network service provider. For instance, a homegateway computer may gather information on: profile of the user (e.g.,via scales, heart rate monitor, etc.), grocery items (e.g.,refrigerator, pantry, etc.) and ingestion of food and drink items (e.g.,via smart dishes and containers). In yet another example, the IoTdevices may directly transmit to the application server of the serviceprovider.

In step 325, the processor provides nutritional information to the uservia a user endpoint device of the user, wherein the nutritionalinformation is based on an analysis of one or more of: the profile ofthe user, the information that is obtained on the one or more groceryitems at the one or more locations of the user, the ingestioninformation that is obtained on ingestion of food and/or drink items bythe user. In one embodiment, the analysis is further based on acomparison of the ingestion by the user with a baseline for ingestionscomputed for a population or against a model selected by the user. Forexample, the network service provider may analyze the ingestioninformation for a particular segment of the population with a profilecomparable to that of the user. The analysis may be used to establish abaseline for the particular segment of the population. For example, thebaseline may provide a mean, median, standard deviation, etc., of thevarious nutritional indicators for the particular segment of thepopulation whose profile is comparable to that of the user. The user'singestion of food and drink items over a predetermined duration of timemay then be compared to the baseline that is established for theparticular segment of the population. In turn, the network serviceprovider may then provide to the user the nutritional information basedon the comparison.

In optional step 340, the processor aggregates nutritional informationassociated with a plurality of users for a geographical area. Forexample, the nutritional information of the plurality of users, e.g.,for a city, a town, a zip code, a defined area such as a one mileradius, may be aggregated. For instance, the aggregated nutritionalinformation may indicate for each food or drink item of the one or morefood or drink items: a quantity of the food or drink item being consumedby users in the geographical area, a population profile of the usersconsuming the food or drink item, etc. For an illustrative example,women within the geographical area are drinking four cups of water andone cup of milk, men are drinking six cups of water, children aredrinking two cups of water and two cups of milk, etc. However, nopersonal information will be provided in the aggregated nutritionalinformation. Namely, the privacy of the users will be maintained unlessspecifically authorized by the users to be disclosed.

In optional step 350, the processor provides an analysis of theaggregated nutritional information to a third party. For example, themethod may analyze the aggregated nutritional information associatedwith the plurality of users for the geographical area. The result of theanalysis may then be provided to a third party.

In one embodiment, the third party may comprise an establishment thatprovides the grocery items to users in the geographical area. Forexample, the establishment may be a grocery store, a store that deliversgrocery items via a mail service, and the like.

In one embodiment, the third party may comprise an establishment thatprovides a food item or a drink item that is prepared. For example, theestablishment may be a diner, restaurant, bar, juice bar, coffee shop, aschool that provides meals to students, and the like. The method theneither returns to step 310, or to step 399 to end the process.

In addition, although not specifically specified, one or more steps,functions or operations of method 200 or method 300 may include astoring, displaying and/or outputting step as required for a particularapplication. In other words, any data, records, fields, and/orintermediate results discussed in the method can be stored, displayedand/or outputted either on the device executing the method or to anotherdevice, as required for a particular application.

Furthermore, steps, blocks, functions or operations in FIG. 2 or FIG. 3that recite a determining operation or involve a decision do notnecessarily require that both branches of the determining operation bepracticed. In other words, one of the branches of the determiningoperation can be deemed as an optional step. Moreover, steps, blocks,functions or operations of the above described method 200 or 300 can becombined, separated, and/or performed in a different order from thatdescribed above, without departing from the example embodiments of thepresent disclosure.

It should be noted that the above described method can be deployed withvarious different implementations. For example, the receiving thenutritional information may be via a dedicated computer. In oneembodiment, the IoT devices may directly provide the informationgathered on grocery items and ingestion by the user to the serviceprovider. Hence, the UE device of the user may be for receiving thenutritional information after the IoT devices provided the data directlyto the service provider. In one embodiment, the dedicated computer isfor gathering information on grocery items, gathering information oningestion, interacting with the user to receive the profile of the user,receiving further profiles via IoT devices, providing the information tothe network service provider for analysis and comparison with data froma large population or model selected by the user, and for receiving thenutritional information from the network service provider.

In one example, the present method for receiving nutritional informationof the present disclosure is implemented via a dedicated databaseserver. For example, in one embodiment, the method of the presentdisclosure is implemented via a dedicated application server, e.g., AS104, for providing the nutritional information to user endpoint device,e.g., to UE 117. The dedicated application server is operated andmanaged by a network service provider. For example, the network serviceprovider may operate one or more communications networks to provide oneor more services such as telephony services, cellular services, dataservices (e.g., data access and transfer services, Internet accessservices, and the like), multimedia delivery services (e.g., multimediaprogramming delivery services such as movies, videos, music and thelike), and the like. In another embodiment, the present method forreceiving nutritional information can be provided in the user endpointdevice, e.g., UE 117.

As such, the present disclosure provides at least one advancement in thetechnical field of receiving nutritional information based on a baselineof nutritional need of an individual (established based on a profile ofthe individual) and a record of ingestion by the individual. Thisadvancement improves the ability of the user to utilize his/hernutritional information for health improvement. For example, the user isthen able to take an appropriate action that is reflective of thebaseline of the nutritional behavior of the general population or amodel. The present disclosure also provides at least one advancement inthe technical field of providing nutritional information of individualsto a network service provider. The network service provider is then ableto aggregate the data, perform analytics on nutritional intake ofpopulations in a geographical area, provide feedback to individuals onnutritional intake based on the analytics, and/or provide to a thirdparty (e.g., a grocery store, restaurant, a school, etc.) nutritionalintake information based on the analytics.

FIG. 4 depicts a high-level block diagram of a computer suitable for usein performing the functions described herein. As depicted in FIG. 4, thesystem 400 comprises one or more hardware processor elements 402 (e.g.,a central processing unit (CPU), a microprocessor, or a multi-coreprocessor), a memory 404, e.g., random access memory (RAM) and/or readonly memory (ROM), a module 405 for receiving nutritional information,and various input/output devices 406 (e.g., storage devices, includingbut not limited to, a tape drive, a floppy drive, a hard disk drive or acompact disk drive, a receiver, a transmitter, a speaker, a display, aspeech synthesizer, an output port, an input port and a user inputdevice (such as a keyboard, a keypad, a mouse, a microphone and thelike)). Although only one processor element is shown, it should be notedthat the computer may employ a plurality of processor elements.Furthermore, although only one computer is shown in the figure, if themethod 200 or method 300 as discussed above is implemented in adistributed or parallel manner for a particular illustrative example,i.e., the steps of the above method 200 or method 300, or each of theentire method 200 or method 300 is implemented across multiple orparallel computers, then the computer of this figure is intended torepresent each of those multiple computers.

Furthermore, one or more hardware processors can be utilized insupporting a virtualized or shared computing environment. Thevirtualized computing environment may support one or more virtualmachines representing computers, servers, or other computing devices. Insuch virtualized virtual machines, hardware components such as hardwareprocessors and computer-readable storage devices may be virtualized orlogically represented.

It should be noted that the present disclosure can be implemented insoftware and/or in a combination of software and hardware, e.g., usingapplication specific integrated circuits (ASIC), a programmable gatearray (PGA) including a Field PGA, or a state machine deployed on ahardware device, a computer or any other hardware equivalents, e.g.,computer readable instructions pertaining to the method(s) discussedabove can be used to configure a hardware processor to perform thesteps, functions and/or operations of the above disclosed method.

In one embodiment, instructions and data for the present module orprocess 405 for receiving nutritional information (e.g., a softwareprogram comprising computer-executable instructions) can be loaded intomemory 404 and executed by hardware processor element 402 to implementthe steps, functions or operations as discussed above in connection withthe illustrative method 200 or method 300. Furthermore, when a hardwareprocessor executes instructions to perform “operations,” this couldinclude the hardware processor performing the operations directly and/orfacilitating, directing, or cooperating with another hardware device orcomponent (e.g., a co-processor and the like) to perform the operations.

The processor executing the computer readable or software instructionsrelating to the above described method can be perceived as a programmedprocessor or a specialized processor. As such, the present module 405for receiving nutritional information (including associated datastructures) of the present disclosure can be stored on a tangible orphysical (broadly non-transitory) computer-readable storage device ormedium, e.g., volatile memory, non-volatile memory, ROM memory, RAMmemory, magnetic or optical drive, device or diskette and the like.Furthermore, a “tangible” computer-readable storage device or mediumcomprises a physical device, a hardware device, or a device that isdiscernible by the touch. More specifically, the computer-readablestorage device may comprise any physical devices that provide theability to store information such as data and/or instructions to beaccessed by a processor or a computing device such as a computer or anapplication server.

While various embodiments have been described above, it should beunderstood that they have been presented by way of example only, and nota limitation. Thus, the breadth and scope of a preferred embodimentshould not be limited by any of the above-described exemplaryembodiments, but should be defined only in accordance with the followingclaims and their equivalents.

What is claimed is:
 1. A method comprising: receiving, via a processorof a network service provider, a profile of a user; receiving, via theprocessor and over a packet network associated with the network serviceprovider, from at least a first internet of things device, groceryinformation on an availability of one or more grocery items foringesting by the user, wherein the grocery information includes an imageof a machine-readable code affixed to the one or more grocery items, andwherein the at least the first internet of things device comprises atleast one of: a refrigerator, a freezer, or a cabinet; identifying, viathe processor, a type of the one or more grocery items based on themachine-readable code; receiving, via the processor and over the packetnetwork associated with the network service provider, from at least asecond internet of things device, ingestion information on ingestion bythe user of at least one grocery item of the one or more grocery items,wherein the at least the second internet of things device is distinctfrom the at least the first internet of things device, and wherein theat least the second internet of things device comprises at least one of:a vessel for containing the at least one grocery item, a food servingdish for containing the at least one grocery item, a plate forcontaining the at least one grocery item, a bowl for containing the atleast one grocery item, a drinking container for containing the at leastone grocery item, a cup for containing the at least one grocery item, aglass for containing the at least one grocery item, a mug for containingthe at least one grocery item, or a tumbler for containing the at leastone grocery item; generating, via the processor, nutritionalinformation, wherein the nutritional information is determined byperforming an analysis based on the profile of the user, the type of theone or more grocery items, and the ingestion information, and whereinthe nutritional information further indicates a recommended adjustmentto the ingestion by the user of the at least one grocery item; andproviding, via the processor and over the packet network associated withthe network service provider, the nutritional information including therecommended adjustment, to an endpoint device of the user.
 2. The methodof claim 1, wherein the profile of the user is received via one or moreof the at least the first internet of things device.
 3. The method ofclaim 1, wherein the profile of the user is received via the endpointdevice of the user.
 4. The method of claim 1, wherein the at least thefirst internet of things device comprises at least one internet ofthings device in which at least one grocery item from the one or moregrocery items is stored.
 5. The method of claim 1, wherein the groceryinformation is further received from an internet of things devicecomprising a disposer.
 6. The method of claim 1, wherein the at leastthe second internet of things device comprises an internet of thingsdevice with a sensor for determining one or more of: when the at leastone grocery item is consumed, a type of the at least one grocery itemthat is consumed, and a quantity of the at least one grocery item thatis consumed.
 7. The method of claim 6, wherein the at least the secondinternet of things device further comprises a sensor for determining anidentity of the user consuming the at least one grocery item.
 8. Themethod of claim 7, wherein the sensor for determining the identity ofthe user consuming the at least one grocery item comprises a biometricscanner.
 9. The method of claim 8, wherein the biometric scannercomprises at least one of: a fingerprint scanner, a retina scanner, or avoiceprint scanner.
 10. The method of claim 6, wherein the at least onegrocery item comprises a food item.
 11. The method of claim 6, whereinthe at least one grocery item comprises a drink item.
 12. The method ofclaim 1, wherein the nutritional information is further based on anutritional model selected by the user.
 13. The method of claim 1,wherein the at least one grocery item comprises a food item and a drinkitem, wherein the ingestion information comprises one or more of: a timewhen the food item is consumed, a type of the food item that isconsumed, a quantity of the food item that is consumed, an identity ofthe user consuming the food item, a time when the drink item isconsumed, a type of the drink item that is consumed, a quantity of thedrink item that is consumed, or an identity of the user consuming thedrink item.
 14. The method of claim 1, further comprising: providing,via the processor, the nutritional information to an application serverof a third party establishment.
 15. The method of claim 14, wherein thethird party establishment comprises a grocery store, a restaurant, or aneducational institution.
 16. The method of claim 1, wherein the at leastthe first internet of things device is connected to the packet networkvia a first wireless communication protocol, and wherein the at leastthe second internet of things device is connected to the packet networkvia a second wireless protocol different from the first wirelesscommunication protocol.
 17. A non-transitory computer-readable storagedevice storing a plurality of instructions which, when executed by aprocessor of a packet network operated by a network service provider,cause the processor to perform operations, the operations comprising:receiving a profile of a user; receiving, over the packet networkassociated with the network service provider, from at least a firstinternet of things device, grocery information on an availability of oneor more grocery items for ingesting by the user, wherein the groceryinformation includes an image of a machine-readable code affixed to theone or more grocery items, and wherein the at least the first internetof things device comprises at least one of: a refrigerator, a freezer,or a cabinet; identifying a type of the one or more grocery items basedon the machine-readable code; receiving, over the packet networkassociated with the network service provider, from at least a secondinternet of things device, ingestion information on ingestion by theuser of at least one grocery item of the one or more grocery items,wherein the at least the second internet of things device is distinctfrom the at least the first internet of things device, and wherein theat least the second internet of things device comprises at least one of:a vessel for containing the at least one grocery item, a food servingdish for containing the at least one grocery item, a plate forcontaining the at least one grocery item, a bowl for containing the atleast one grocery item, a drinking container for containing the at leastone grocery item, a cup for containing the at least one grocery item, aglass for containing the at least one grocery item, a mug for containingthe at least one grocery item, or a tumbler for containing the at leastone grocery item; generating nutritional information, wherein thenutritional information is determined by performing an analysis based onthe profile of the user, the type of the one or more grocery items, andthe ingestion information, and wherein the nutritional informationfurther indicates a recommended adjustment to the ingestion by the userof the at least one grocery item; and providing, over the packet networkassociated with the network service provider, the nutritionalinformation including the recommended adjustment, to an endpoint deviceof the user.
 18. An apparatus comprising: a processor of a packetnetwork operated by a network service provider; and a computer-readablestorage device storing a plurality of instructions which, when executedby the processor, cause the processor to perform operations, theoperations comprising: receiving a profile of a user; receiving, overthe packet network associated with the network service provider, from atleast a first internet of things device, grocery information on anavailability of one or more grocery items for ingesting by the user,wherein the grocery information includes an image of a machine-readablecode affixed to the one or more grocery items, and wherein the at leastthe first internet of things device comprises at least one of: arefrigerator, a freezer, or a cabinet; identifying a type of the one ormore grocery items based on the machine-readable code; receiving, overthe packet network associated with the network service provider, from atleast a second internet of things device, ingestion information oningestion by the user of at least one grocery item of the one or moregrocery items, wherein the at least the second internet of things deviceis distinct from the at least the first internet of things device, andwherein the at least the second internet of things device comprises atleast one of: a vessel for containing the at least one grocery item, afood serving dish for containing the at least one grocery item, a platefor containing the at least one grocery item, a bowl for containing theat least one grocery item, a drinking container for containing the atleast one grocery item, a cup for containing the at least one groceryitem, a glass for containing the at least one grocery item, a mug forcontaining the at least one grocery item, or a tumbler for containingthe at least one grocery item; generating nutritional information,wherein the nutritional information is determined by performing ananalysis based on the profile of the user, the type of the one or moregrocery items, and the ingestion information, and wherein thenutritional information further indicates a recommended adjustment tothe ingestion by the user of the at least one grocery item; andproviding, over the packet network associated with the network serviceprovider, the nutritional information including the recommendedadjustment, to an endpoint device of the user.
 19. The apparatus ofclaim 18, wherein the at least the second internet of things devicecomprises an internet of things device with a sensor for determining oneor more of: when the at least one grocery item is consumed, a type ofthe at least one grocery item that is consumed, or a quantity of the atleast one grocery item that is consumed.
 20. The apparatus of claim 19,wherein the at least the second internet of things device furthercomprises a sensor for determining an identity of the user consuming theat least one grocery item.